The Blue Jays are in agreement with first-round pick Trey Yesavage on a $4.1775MM bonus, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The East Carolina righty was one of just two unsigned first-rounders left on the board with the deadline to sign 2024 draftees looming at 5pm ET today. His bonus checks in slightly north of the No. 20 selection’s $4.07MM slot value.
Yesavage, who turned 21 earlier this week, went from a reliever with 4.50 ERA and pronounced command troubles as a freshman at ECU to obliterating opposing lineups in his sophomore and junior seasons. He pitched 93 innings this past season, logging a minuscule 2.03 ERA with a 40.4% strikeout rate against an 8.9% walk rate. Listed at 6’4″ and 225 pounds, he sports a prototypical starter’s frame and was considered one of the top pitching prospects in this year’s draft class.
Each of MLB.com (No. 11), Baseball America (No. 11), The Athletic (No. 13), ESPN (No. 14) and FanGraphs (No. 19) ranked Yesavage among the top 20 talents in this summer’s draft. He draws praise for a fastball that sits comfortably in the 93-95mph range and tops out at 98mph when he needs it. Yesavage’s secondary offerings are headlined by a splitter and a slider, the former giving him a clear weapon against lefties and the latter giving him a second breaking pitch to show righties.
Yesavage underwent a frightening medical scare late in the season when he was hospitalized with a partially collapsed lung. (ECU coach Cliff Godwin posted a video detailing the situation at the time.) The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard spoke with Yesavage after the draft and wrote that the lung issue was “most likely caused by an accident during a dry needling session.” right-hander remarkably was cleared to return to the mound just a couple weeks later and made his final start of the season opposite eventual No. 2 overall pick Chase Burns and Wake Forest.
